


FALLOUT

by SilverMoonT



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmate AU, Third Years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoonT/pseuds/SilverMoonT
Summary: "What do you think about love?"Your best friend taking care of your fingers, with tape and gentleness, admiring your best friend for his strength, asking yourself if the blush on your cheeks is due to the cold or the closeness of your face with your best friend's facial features, thinking about the real differences between being strong and being weak, and being pleased as long as the right people pay attention to you. Love can be different actions, gestures and words. But a name written on your skin? That's not love."I think love is weird."Fate is upon them and, love; love is so, so weird.
Relationships: Ennoshita Chikara/Kinoshita Hisashi/Narita Kazuhito/Nishinoya Yuu/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	FALLOUT

**Author's Note:**

> Karasuno's 2nd Years Week 2020
> 
> Day 4: Prompt: Soulmate AU

**Our beginning (end)**

**1\. Ennoshita**

Narita is nervous. Trying to deny it is a waste of time, he thinks. The rest may believe that the expression of doubt on his face is due to the fact that it’s his last year of high school, and therefore he must already start thinking about his future once his time walking through the halls of Karasuno is over. He should focus on getting good scores, though his grades have always been high as well as his reputation with professors. Maybe there’s the possibility that his nerves are related to the fact that he only has two more opportunities to demonstrate that one of the most important places of the building of his high school, for him, is the gymnasium, since he is now a third year.

Benchwarmer or not, the number five rests on his back now, and he's already gotten used to Tanaka slapping him every so often, assuring him that although he is a middle blocker while he is a wing spiker, —the new ace of Karasuno—, all his experiences rest on that number. Narita wants to believe that he is right, and feels that he is, since despite still dealing with the absence of Daichi, Sugawara, Asahi, and Kiyoko, they have managed to go through it by adorning their shoulders with confidence and decorating their faces with a smile. They are still a team, somewhat different, somewhat new, somewhat changed with new first years on board. Yachi is still the manager, Hinata and Kageyama still make races to see who gets to the gym faster, Tsukishima keeps accompanying his vocabulary with sarcasm, and Yamaguchi's personality is still made up of nerves but determination. It seems as if everything remains the same, but it’s not.

Living involves seeing changes, being the change, and Narita knows it.

They are aware that as ironic as it sounds, Daichi’s shouts are missed, as well as Asahi's nerves but strength both on and off the court, Sugawara's unexpected comments as well as his chaotic yet calm personality, and Kiyoko’s face and presence that turned out to be a source of inspiration and determination. They themselves have also changed. Now they are the oldest, the third years, a new year has begun.

A new team has been formed, a new captain has been announced.

Narita looks up, thinking how ironic it is to feel nervous yet also relaxed.

Ennoshita is still the same person from last year, calm, determined; scary when he wants to.

Now the number one belongs to him as well as the role of the leader of the team. No one is impressed or surprised, he was the only possible candidate; not only because he is the only person capable of getting Nishinoya and Tanaka to stop doing their pranks to listen to him and pay attention, but also because everyone trusts him, his decisions and his personality. He is the person they must follow, because they want to and because they must, because they are friends, teammates.

Ennoshita raises his gaze when he feels that he is being watched, and gives him a smile before lowering his gaze back to his fingers. Narita doesn’t know what he wants to do, if he wants to continue looking at him because that gentle smile causes him more than it should and it would be convenient for him to lower his gaze to try to hide the probable beginning of a blush on his face, or continue to look at him because feeling Ennoshita's fingers with his, with tape in between and therefore a delicate touch, is enough to make him feel nervous.

"Believe me, I know we have to make an effort to show that we can with this team ourselves," Ennoshita expresses with his eyes on their fingers so as not to stop making the correct movements when bandaging his finger. "Trust me, I know." He specifies, and Narita is sure that behind those words Ennoshita can still feel the shadow of Daichi and his captaincy over him. "But we shouldn't try too hard either. After all, we are no longer a wingless team."

There are only a few days left until the start of the tournament.

Matches, strategies. They have been training since day one.

They have been preparing, which is why at that time they are both on one side, near the door of the gym while the rest of the team continues to stretch their muscles after another intense afternoon under the instructions of Ennoshita with Tanaka by his side, as his pair. Ennoshita is taking care of his fingers because just like him, Narita and the entire team strive to make that year as promising as the previous one; those efforts evidenced in the form of tired muscles, satisfied minds, and taped fingers. Narita wants to believe that he is somewhat lucky because Ennoshita thinks that he has been distracted when it comes to blocking or because if Tanaka is the new ace of the team, it’s because it’s difficult to stop him even when they are training between them, and not because since the night before, he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the boy who at that moment finally finishes bandaging his finger, delicately, gently.

Thinking about him and the way his name now decorates the skin of his lower back in black letters. He is eighteen now, and with that number he has found out who his soulmate is. Ennoshita; his tattoo says, confesses, demands. Narita keeps looking at him. He is confused because he had thought that the glances exchanged with Kinoshita for the past year had been a sign that someone else would be the name on his skin, but he doesn't know if he is sad, angry, or happy. It's easy for him to find reasons why Ennoshita gets along well with most of his peers, since they both share the same class, as well as why several girls seek to speak to him once the bell rings and it's recess time. Ennoshita is pretty and his smile is gentle; and he thinks that if his name is on his lower back, it’s because that part of his body is where Ennoshita leaves his hand to help him give one last push, to encourage him, and to make sure that as you can leave and run away, you can also come back, and never leave again (although leaving, of course, is not a synonymous of being weak).

"Or maybe your workouts are difficult, Captain." Narita says, and smiles.

Ennoshita rolls his eyes, without losing his smile.

"I give ourselves wings," Ennoshita corrects him.

"You make us want to fly out of this gym."

Narita can’t help but laugh once an offensive expression takes over Ennoshita's face, and he continues to laugh once Ennoshita throws the tape at his chest as a claim, although he soon begins to accompany his laughter with his. "I will consider my trainings difficult once even Kageyama and Hinata are tired."

"That's impossible."

"Exactly. Now, come on, let’s go stretch because we don’t need new pains tomorrow, your birthday is today so that means you are old. You are the person that needs these exercises the most."

Ennoshita laughs with his own words before resting his hand on his lower back to instruct him to do the indicated, and Narita exhales a breath that doesn’t really leave his lips because now there’s only a t-shirt between his soulmate and his name on his skin.

Kageyama and Hinata stop fighting as well as Tsukishima speaking sarcastically once they both join the round with the rest of the team and Ennoshita glances at them. Narita looks at him and smiles, perhaps it’s a sad gesture or a happy one, he doesn’t know, but he does know that it turns into a grimace of confusion one once he rests his gaze on Kinoshita, him being at his side, scolding him for the fact that he should be more careful when it comes to blocking, while later focusing on Nishinoya and Tanaka when they laugh out loud because Yamaguchi has also started scolding the unstoppable duo of his same year. The first years are probably already wondering why they have decided to join the team, while Narita knows he has no doubts about it.

He is part of a team that he likes, with which he feels comfortable.

Perhaps his skin assures him that he likes his captain, but he knows he is not the only one.

Just as he also knows he's in trouble, because he watches the way Tanaka smiles at Ennoshita after smirking and blinking several times in a row to try to add more innocence to his expression, once Ennoshita also tells him not to make as much noise since the moment to stretch must be a calm moment. He wonders if he is in the middle of something. Being a substitute player has never bothered him because he knows the team must declare victory with the best line-up, but thinking that now, perhaps, he has obtained a substitute position in another aspect of his life, doesn’t make him feel really satisfied. If he is thinking that way it’s because he is not disgusted with the name on his skin, but because he knows that his feelings for Ennoshita could grow, and maybe they already do.

**2\. Tanaka**

"Noya-san! Chikara said that after training he will take us to eat for your birthday!" Tanaka expresses, the joy being evident in his tone of voice as well as in the way he puts his hands together and then closes his eyes, seeming to be dreaming of the delicious food that his stomach will delight in once the training of that evening comes to an end.

"Yes!" Nishinoya raises his hands to high-five with him and they both complain when the tape gets caught between them, since he has been covering his fingers but the thought of food had made him forget about that detail of which he quickly remembers because he continues to tape his index finger.

"Mhm? Have you hurt your finger again?"

Tanaka chooses to crouch down in front of him, slightly distracted because a ball rolls at them. He catches it and then sees him again, although Nishinoya takes those seconds to quickly wrap his index finger with tape because it doesn't really hurt. At least not physically.

"Yeah," He lies, "Training with Hisashi."

Tanaka huffs. "You two should stop training so much. Chikara will scold you two."

"Are you afraid of Chikara now?" Nishinoya raises both eyebrows repeatedly.

He chooses to laugh once Tanaka makes part of the ball touch his forehead in an attempt to resemble wanting to headbutt him because he knows that he can only give an affirmative answer, given that everyone is in some way or another afraid of Ennoshita. Nishinoya looks at him as Tanaka looks down to focus on rolling the ball with his index finger, and forms a line with his lips. He knows that hiding his best friend's name under tape is the best option, something quick and easy to do, a credible excuse. They have always been honest with each other and for the same reason they are best friends, so close, but he knows that he can’t just show him his name tattooed on his index finger when he is aware that when Tanaka is not focused on spiking balls, he is talking to Ennoshita, trying to make him laugh, managing to make him smile.

He is not surprised, now that Kiyoko has graduated, it doesn't seem strange to him that Tanaka spends more time with Ennoshita. Furthermore, they are both the team leaders and Nishinoya knows that they are both doing a great job even though they have lost the final of the tournament, which is why now they are trying harder than ever before, and so bandaging his finger due to overtraining is a credible excuse. They only have one more chance to win and return to step on the light blue court for the second time, their last time.

They don't want to disappoint themselves, they don't want to fail Ennoshita, they don't want to fail anyone who has worn the colors of Karasuno. Both Ennoshita and Tanaka are striving like the rest to keep the motivation strong as well as the encouragement solid. Losing always represents a new opportunity to continue improving, and thanks to Tanaka he has understood that if they have fallen, then they only have to rise up again. Victory or defeat, they are still crows and don’t plan to stay on the tree branches, watching the sky instead of claiming it as theirs. Nishinoya knows what flying involves and doesn’t plan to give up, at least not on the court.

"So?" Tanaka asks him and he looks at him with both eyebrows raised. "Will you tell me?"

Nishinoya knows exactly what he is talking about but still tilts his head, intended confusion on his face. "Tell you what?"

"Oh come on," Tanaka finally sits down in front from him, "Your soulmate."

He is eighteen since the clock has marked twelve am the night before, that hour decorating his skin with black letters, now hidden under tape. Nishinoya caresses his own finger with his hand upon hearing him, and chooses to laugh when Tanaka repeatedly raises both eyebrows. "No," Is all he says, and sticks his tongue out at him.

"Bro, you have to tell me!"

"Fine, I'll tell you."

"Really?!"

"Nope."

"Noya-san!"

Nishinoya laughs and knows that the situation is better that way, for the first time choosing to hide something from who he considers to be his best friend, not because he doesn’t trust him, since he knows that he can do it, blindly, and free from all doubt, but because that same confidence is what he believes has led him to have the name of his best friend tattooed on his finger. Tanaka has always been for him and it’s clear to him that falling for his best friend can be as fast and sudden as it can be slow and calm. The shared moments, the intermingled laughter, the constant physical contact that is produced because trust is the basis of the actions and the words exchanged between the two. Now closeness represents both a blessing and a curse, and if he was confused before, now he is even more.

"Well, whoever the person is, they are lucky." Tanaka says before standing up once they both hear Ennoshita's voice, and tucks the ball under his arm as he extends his hands towards him. "Come on, we still have another chance."

Nishinoya looks down at his hands and believes that if he has Tanaka's name on his index finger, it’s because Tanaka is always taking his hand to make him keep going forward, tugging at his hand, sometimes to point to a dog on the street, the best candy in a store, and other times the banner of their school; Fly. Always looking for details, finding positivity even in the smallest and most common images.

Tanaka is the vice-captain now, Ennoshita's right-hand both as leader and best friend, and perhaps, something else, something more. The number two represents him, or rather, he carries the number two on his back, he attracts attention every time he shows that the color black belongs to them because they are crows and because seeing him move and jump to spike balls is the same as seeing him fly. Tanaka is the person who keeps them in the sky, assuring them that they can, with exclamations and laughter in between, but also with serious words when necessary and the moment demands it. Tanaka is strong, physically and mentally; the points scored by him give hope and his presence is easy to notice.

He is the one who always assures him that he has to keep going on, and for the same reason at that moment he leaves his hands on his, though he doesn’t get up.

Nishinoya doesn’t want to wonder if it’s admiration, or love, perhaps both. It’s easy not to be able to distinguish the limits between the two, but for him it’s easy to be aware of the way he feels. They still have one more chance. They must remain motivated if they want to demonstrate that Karasuno will always seek to win regardless of the number of losses. Nishinoya knows that it’s a matter of training, believing, and being afraid in order to overcome said fears. He trusts himself, he trusts Tanaka, and he also trusts the rest of the team. He trusts Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita.

Too much.

Friendship, love, fear; concepts that are always connected in one way or another. Friendships involve love, and fear. Love and fear can be both synonyms and antonyms. Nishinoya knows it, is aware of it, and for the same reason he smiles, thinking than overcoming fears has now become something much easier to do than stop thinking about love.

"What would you think if I told you I don't want to go pro next year?" Nishinoya decides to ask him.

Tanaka arches an eyebrow but is not surprised.

"And what do you want to do?"

Tanaka has taught him to see details, and now he wants to discover them for himself. He has begun to pay attention, realizing the way in which Ennoshita hides his face behind his hands when the training loses its objective although his smile never leaves his face; the way Tanaka shifts his shoulders both before and after each practice as well as before a game; as well as the changes he's glimpsed when Kinoshita is about to serve, and the way Narita always makes sure to rush them all out once training is over and the talk in the locker room continues to drag on.

"I want to travel the world."

He hears Tanaka laugh and for the same reason a smile appears on his face.

"You have to send me postcards, as many postcards as you can." Tanaka says, and they both hold the same kind of smile before Nishinoya finally decides to get up, again being helped by Tanaka to keep going forward.

**3\. Kinoshita**

"Captain!" Nishinoya and Tanaka scream at the same time as Ennoshita ducks just in time to avoid two snowballs in his direction.

"It doesn't make sense if you scream right before throwing the snowballs," Ennoshita laughs, straightening up, laughing even more when Narita throws a snowball at Tanaka's neck.

Both Tanaka and Nishinoya begin to pretend that Tanaka has been seriously injured as the former lies down in the snow, probably not feeling the snow below him while Nishinoya takes him in his arms, fake tears sliding down his cheeks while he expresses how sad he is along with a dramatic tone of voice, declaring how much he will miss him and how he vows to take revenge against all the snowballs, at that moment choosing to throw one back at Narita while Tanaka sticks his tongue out, pretending he can't move.

Ennoshita laughs when he sees them until an exclamation leaves his mouth because something attacks his body and his back finds snow. "Auch!" He complains, leaning back on his elbows to scowl at Kinoshita, since instead of throwing a snowball at him like the others have been doing, he has chosen to directly throw himself on top of him. Kinoshita laughs at both hearing and seeing him, and shakes his blond locks so that traces of snow fall on his face, getting Ennoshita to blink repeatedly and stuck his tongue out on purpose.

"I'm sorry but I'm not really sorry at all, Captain," Kinoshita says.

"When will you stop calling me that? I'm starting to miss being called by my name," He says, since since the first practice he has led, his friends haven’t hesitated to start calling him for the position that still belongs to him because the five have decided to continue playing for the spring tournament, and therefore, the position of leader as well as the number one, are still his.

"Just a little more, let us, will you?"

Kinoshita gives him a lopsided smile and Ennoshita bites his lower lip.

Being born a day after Christmas usually means not celebrating his birthday because his friends and those close to him are always busy and he can't really blame them, so he's used to spending his birthday with his family, sometimes with just one gift or sometimes with two; but that day his friends have decided to appear by surprise, with pleasant smiles, and with enough energy to start a snowball fight in the backyard of his house, not caring that they have to wear scarves, beanies, gloves, and warm jackets, instead of staying indoors, in a warmer environment with hot chocolate in between. He is not really surprised, he feels that he is always like this with his friends, since those invite him to do unusual things at the least expected moments, and many times he lets himself be convinced because he has a special place for them; apparently for one in particular now.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Kinoshita asks when they are both silent.

Ennoshita raises both eyebrows and shakes his head. Kinoshita lashing out at his body and against the snow hasn’t hurt him, but the fact that his name is the one that has appeared at midnight does. It has assured him that even though he always has a great time with all of them, apparently his skin and the black tattoo on it imply something else.

Kinoshita tilts his head and laughs when Ennoshita sticks his tongue out at him.

"I’m tired," Ennoshita says before dropping his head on the snow, thus (unsuccessfully) trying to get his head to freeze and his thoughts even more, since being close to Kinoshita is not easy knowing that underneath all the layers of clothing that he is currently wearing, his name is the one on his skin. He is happy that at least the fact that it’s his birthday has made no one ask about the name on his skin. He thinks it's not really that weird, since as much as Narita and Nishinoya have already had their respective birthdays like him, they haven’t talked about the matter. No one asks, so one answers.

He wonders if it's possible for a name to appear more than once, since judging by the way Narita and Kinoshita always choose to sit side by side, it makes him doubt the name on his skin, as a smile also finds its way on his face when Tanaka appears beside him either at the gym because they are both still the team leaders, or outside of it when they are already going home and Tanaka walks beside him, their shoulders brushing; and as a laugh inevitably leaves his lips every time Nishinoya rests his hands on his shoulders to then start jumping, excited. He has never paid too much attention to the situation regarding soulmates, but now that his skin holds a name, declares a name, and a person, he is no longer sure what to think.

"You are old," Kinoshita assures him.

"I'm not old, it's life happening."

"You just said something philosophical, you're old."

"All of you make me old," Ennoshita laughs and closes his eyes as he continues to laugh when Kinoshita pretends to headbutt him at his comment even though only their foreheads meet for a second.

He knows he can blame the faint rosy hue on his cheeks for the cold, but he still feels calmer when the others choose to invade the little bubble they had created between the two of them by jumping on top of them and thus getting snowflakes to pass past his lips. They are laughing, and although he is under everyone, Ennoshita feels that he is on the top of everything, not only because they have won a tournament that has given them a ticket for the spring tournament with him at the top of the team, but because he is happy that he still has more time to play with his friends, with those people whose laughter he hears and mixes with his own, because if tomorrow everyone gets a cold, they will not know what excuse to give.

Ennoshita only has a single name tattooed on his skin, but he wonders, since if he has never paid too much attention to the matter, why should he do it now? He’s only a year older, it’s only a name, he wonders why there can’t be more than one, and it’s at that moment, with that question floating around his thoughts, that he realizes that perhaps the idea of wanting, giving all his attention and interest to one person, for him, it doesn’t make much sense.

"Kinoshita."

"What?"

"What do you think about love?"

It’s notable that that question takes him by surprise, since Kinoshita raises both eyebrows upon hearing his words, and Ennoshita bites his lower lip in a sneaky way because he believes that although he is the team captain, his friends are those who push him to be, as well as vice versa. He doesn’t think it’s a surprise that the name of Kinoshita is on his waist, since he pinches him when he is too serious thinking about what strategies to carry out, how to address the team, how to advance in tournaments; as well as because when Kinoshita needs him, he asks him to pay attention to him, he tugs on his hoodie or t-shirt from that part, attracting his interest to assure him that Tanaka and Nishinoya are laughing instead of training, that they are training too much, or that the rest of the team is being lazy.

"Love?" Kinoshita tilts his head.

Ennoshita believes that Kinoshita is pretty.

"I think love is weird." He adds to answer his question.

"Weird?" Ennoshita laughs.

"Yes, don't you think love is weird?"

Ennoshita thinks of his own words with a smile on his face.

Love is weird, love is so, so weird.

"Maybe." He chooses to answer, somewhat sure, perhaps not so much.

Kinoshita laughs and Ennoshita takes the opportunity to form a snowball and throw it on his face, making Kinoshita replace his laugh with starting to stick his tongue out because it had entered his mouth and now Ennoshita is the one who laughs until a snowball is thrown against his shoulder, because Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Narita don’t doubt to make their presences something evident. The five laugh and Ennoshita doesn’t know if he is short of breath because it’s true, love is weird, or because he can’t stop laughing. Maybe both. Perhaps it’s because he knows that although Kinoshita still has one more opportunity to wear his jersey with the number three on his back, his skin indicates that he is the number one for him.

**4.** **Nishinoya**

Kinoshita thinks, thinks too much actually, he tends to thinks a lot.

He overthinks not only for him, but also for others. The nervousness that always accompanies Ennoshita's determination to become the leader of the team, their guide, their captain and therefore Karasuno's representation while wearing the number one with a line below on his chest. The mental and physical capacity that have allowed and led Tanaka to be next to Ennoshita, as his vice-captain, as the bridge between the captain and the rest of the team, being the person who should encourage others as well the captain, as well as the difficulty that this must bring because carrying a good kind of pride is a game and it’s not always a victory. Narita's short but direct words, being subtle but also sincere when it comes to speaking the truth and expressing phrases that others sometimes don't dare to pronounce, the courage to stop someone when necessary in the same way as he has always has had to block the players of the opposing teams whenever he has had to find himself on the court. Nishinoya's presence both on and off the court, being much more than the person usually behind them as the team's most important defender, his ability to make them feel safe, assuring them that they have to have faith and that erasing all their doubts is the only thing they can do because he will always be there to raise his arms, sometimes as a celebration, other times in the form of a hug because that gesture is enough to raise spirits.

Kinoshita thinks a lot, and sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing.

What he doesn’t need to think about is the fact that the only tattoo that his body has is on his back, near his right shoulder, since if there is something that doesn’t surprise him, it’s that the name of Nishinoya finds itself interrupting his skin in that way, in that part of his body, since as he has always thought, surely like others, Nishinoya protects his back, and not only within the court. He has been the team's libero, the person who allows plays to continue to occur because he prevents the ball from touching the ground, or because he moves fast enough to prevent a play by the opposing team from ending as a point on their side of the court. He represents the team's defense, and no one is surprised.

Kinoshita believes that he will miss seeing himself with the uniform, seeing him in the alternative uniform, standing out not only for the altered colors, but also for his energetic personality and calm concentration. Number four had remained his, somehow still belongs to him. But it’s more remarkable, stronger. They have won. They have lost. Inarizaki has defeated them. Their time together on the court is over, they no longer have any opportunities or possibilities, but not everything is over; since in the same way that they still consider Ennoshita to be their captain as well as Tanaka the vice-captain, Nishinoya is still the same person, ready to express the right words at the necessary moment, the teammate who shakes your back or high-fives you because he is proud of you and because there is no place to be afraid.

Or maybe yes, because being afraid is fine, since to overcome it, you must first experience it. Kinoshita has understood that it’s not that Nishinoya is not afraid, that he is free from all fear because he goes through life without worrying, walking free from all worries; but the opposite. Nishinoya is afraid like any other person, but instead of allowing it to take him as prey, he is the one who becomes the hunter to be the hero of the story after capturing fear and turning it into a force that then assures him that he can go through life, with fears, surrounded by fears, but greeting them instead of running away from them.

Nishinoya is a thunder himself, because he causes fear, expectations and he’s followed by light, by light that sparks goose bumps and makes you lean out of the window as well as other times to hide because with him everything is unpredictable.

Kinoshita admires him, and knows that he is not the only one.

"So," He begins to say, "You will travel the world?"

Nishinoya raises both eyebrows once he's finished drinking from his water bottle.

Neither of them need to keep practicing, going to the gym to keep moving, building muscles, strengthening both physically and mentally, but both of them are sitting on the floor, with their sports uniforms on, knowing they don’t have to get ready for another game because now it’s the turn of Hinata, Kageyama, Yachi, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to take charge of the team. Kinoshita's hands hurt, they always hurt in one way or another after hitting so many balls, some saved by Nishinoya, others not.

"You're impressed that I don't want to play professionally, right?"

Kinoshita holds a sideways smile, thinking about his answer.

It comes as no surprise that Nishinoya has received several offers to continue playing volleyball after three years of high school, as his skills are admirable as well as his efforts evident. What does surprise some is that he has rejected all of them because what he wants is not to stay inside a court, but to explore all the details around it, leaving, traveling, moving. Kinoshita doesn’t really know if he is so surprised, since somehow Nishinoya has always been like this, unstoppable, unable to stay still although his concentration is great, with enough energy to continue advancing through different paths, deciding to do something that follows challenging his fears because traveling the world without company is scary regardless of age or experience.

"I don't know, actually," He decides to answer, and he's the one who surprises Nishinoya when he chooses to answer his question with those words instead of just saying that yes, he's impressed.

Kinoshita knows that perhaps he should feel sad considering that the name of the person who is tattooed on his skin is the same person who, after graduation, will go to run the world. Not a really long time ago he remembers mentioning to Ennoshita that he thinks love is weird, and he still thinks that it certainly is, because what is love? Blushing after some words or gestures? Staying up late or trying to sleep earlier to dream about a person? Hidden glances and lopsided smiles? Love is pain, too.

"I don't think so," He adds, and Nishinoya smiles. "I think I'm not surprised at all."

Nishinoya laughs and so does he.

The two turn their heads towards the entrance to the gym when they hear Tanaka calling out to them, entering as he exclaims their names, with Ennoshita and Narita together with him. Kinoshita believes that love is weird, and that it shouldn’t necessarily involve only two people.

**5\. Narita**

It’s weird, Tanaka thinks.

He is confused with himself, with his own actions, thoughts.

He believes that love is wonderful, fun, refreshing. And above all, interesting.

He knows that there are different types of love.

His sister taking care of him in the same way that he cares for her; they both know that they have each other regardless of whether he only wants to hide behind his teammates when she appears at his games to shout his name because she is proud of him and the surname they share, as well as despite the fact that many other times his sister just wants to smack his head with her helmet instead of protecting that part of his body with it because he doesn’t want to leave her alone since he is bored and the first thing that occurs to him is to be around her, distracting her. He is happy to be the younger brother even though many other times he has to behave like the older one.

There is no one way to love and he knows it because his teammates, now former volleyball teammates, show it to him daily. Ennoshita staying serious, folding his arms, ready to scold them in case they give up on the task they still have to do or if they want to think about not doing all the stretching exercises after training for hours. Kinoshita supporting them, being ready to give a hug or a pat on the shoulder if necessary because although having confidence in yourself is always a good thing, when you also know that you have the confidence of your teammates, it’s even better. Nishinoya sharing his happiness, jumping on their backs because he is excited and his smile is as contagious as his joy, a smile that is not lost but that is absent when expressing words with determination is the motivation that is needed.

With Narita, it’s something different.

He knows that for others Narita doesn’t usually stand out, he is (was) only the number five of the team, another middle blocker. But for him, it’s not like that. Narita is not one of the people who tends to be under the spotlight as well as the people who usually seek to be the interest all the time, since he is satisfied where he is and Tanaka holds a smile for the same reason, because Narita is pleased with his own corner as long as the right people keep coming to talk, just to be, just to keep him company.

The two are waiting for the others, Narita in front of him as he finds himself with his back against the wall, his hands tucked into the pockets of his uniform pants until he realizes that apparently he has kept on growing because his pants are a little short and because he crosses one foot in front of the other to hide the first letters that appears above his sock. He can’t deny that he is a bit surprised in reality, he feels strange, anchored to the earth but not really, and that is what surprises him, since Narita is the person who keeps him grounded, the one who makes him he and others stop inventing and dreaming of innovative metaphors to make them see that reality is what you can see and touch, what you can smell and hear. And he believes that for that very reason Narita's name is found on his ankle, in black letters since the hands of the clock have changed and he is finally the same age as his friends because he is the youngest of the five.

Narita is the kind of person who doesn't complain if, coming back from a game, you leave your head on his shoulder, or if when they are all together, your knee brushes against his. He is a calm person, so much that sometimes he even goes unnoticed. But not for Tanaka, really. He thinks it’s somewhat confusing, since when he goes through the door of Ennoshita's classroom, he also stays talking to Narita, and when he goes to talk to Narita, he stays talking to Ennoshita; and on none of the occasions does he complain because he feels that he doesn’t want to, either, much less when Kinoshita and Nishinoya are also with them. They got used to the five of them being together, always in some way or another; it’s true that many times he has had opportunities to be alone with each one of them; with Ennoshita planning game strategies, with Nishinoya running to Ukai's store to buy ice cream, with Kinoshita talking about how they can improve their serves, and with Narita chatting about the newest video games while practicing spikes with one blocker; but in the end, the others always end up joining the conversations.

He still doesn't know how to define the kind of feelings that the name on his skin gives him.

He is not disappointed, nor is he upset, angry, or sad.

He is confused, and he can’t figure out exactly why.

"You are making a funny face."

Tanaka looks up when he hears Narita speaking to him, and purposely sticks his tongue out to make him laugh, Narita certainly giving a little laugh at his comic gesture. He doesn’t doubt that his own confusion is manifesting on his face, since in reality he has never understood very well how is it that only by a couple of black letters, he must decide what his heart and brain want, as if forced to accept what life has chosen for him without being able to complain. So what if he doesn’t want to?

What if it's not enough?

He has many questions, but all those are put aside when he sees that Narita turns his head and smiles, and he also does it after seeing Ennoshita, Nishinoya and Kinoshita approaching with ice cream in their hands; but soon the doubts only reappear in his head, more solid, stronger, and therefore, more confusion. He believes that love is so, so weird.

**Our end (beginning)**

"I'll go for him." Ennoshita says.

Kinoshita, Nishinoya and Narita give him the same type of smile before continuing to talk to each other in the living room of his house, since he has chosen to invite them to spend the night, and if he stops being with them, it’s because Tanaka's futon remains empty, since several minutes ago he said that he had to go to the bathroom but he hasn’t yet returned, which is why at that moment Ennoshita knocks gently on the door of said place.

"Is everything okay?" He asks.

"I'm just admiring my beautiful face, Chikara." Tanaka replies.

Ennoshita rolls his eyes though he smiles, and crosses his arms to then leave one side of his body against the wall. "Why is my ace hiding in my bathroom?" He asks him, since his words haven’t been enough of an excuse to get him to leave again to be with the others.

A few seconds pass in silence until the bathroom door opens and Tanaka appears to position himself in the same way as him although against the door frame. Ennoshita raises both eyebrows, waiting for a response, avoiding narrowing his gaze because he knows that if Tanaka has spent too much time in the bathroom, it's not because his stomach hurts, but because something else is happening.

"Chikara, what are you saying, I'm not your ace anymore," Tanaka huffs on purpose. "You make me feel powerful." He adds, straightening up on purpose, making Ennoshita bite his lower lip and smile because he doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of Tanaka crossing his arms to show him that having stopped playing volleyball doesn’t mean that his muscles will disappear.

"You are powerful."

"Then you are even more powerful, Captain."

Ennoshita rolls his eyes, a smile still on his face.

"I won’t deny it." He chooses to say. He is no longer the leader of the team because he has chosen to cede the position to Yamaguchi as well as Tanaka to Kageyama, but the two are still equally strong and powerful, in different ways. Helping each other out, that being the reason they had been chosen to lead the team side by side. "It’s not because you’re scared, right?" He adds, wondering, and asking out loud, if he is choosing to hide in the bathroom because they will soon stop wearing the same uniform.

Tanaka licks his lips and looks at him, and it’s at that moment that Ennoshita knows his answer.

"What if I'm scared?"

"Well, you shouldn't bec—"

"Not because of our graduation."

Ennoshita arches an eyebrow, not being so sure that he can read him completely although Tanaka always shows his expressions through pleasant smiles that manage to put him in a good mood, with an exaggerated pout and being completely dramatic, or with expressions that despite no longer belonging to a volleyball court, can continue to intimidate anyone who sees him because he is like that.

"Why then?"

Instead of answering, Tanaka moves and slides his back down the wall until he sits, patting the ground beside him to indicate to Ennoshita to sit next to him, which he does because it’s not the first time they have separated themselves from the rest of the group to talk. The gym, the locker room, walking home, in one way or another they have always made sure to have their own moments. Ennoshita looks at him but Tanaka keeps his knees flexed, moving them, bringing them closer and further away.

Ennoshita knows that he is nervous because Tanaka doesn’t look at him.

"I feel like I'm breaking something," He finally says.

"Breaking?"

"As if I'm intruding on something I shouldn't."

"What are you talking about?"

Tanaka laughs a little because he knows it doesn't make sense.

He knows that he can’t escape, from the situation, from Ennoshita, from the others.

He believes that the relationship he has always had with Ennoshita is interesting, even before that year, even before both being captain and vice-captain. Along with Nishinoya they had looked out for him, followed him to beg him to come back to the club when he had chosen to leave together with Narita and Kinoshita, just as Ennoshita had been the one to convince him that he had no choice but to be strong at the time of dealing with the accident that had happened with Daichi last year. Being chosen as the team leaders had only given him more evidence to believe that he is for Ennoshita just as Ennoshita is for him.

Their foreheads pressed together, a hand on a shoulder, a hand on a back.

Go ahead, there is no option. We lost. We fell. Okay, we will get up again. We represent Karasuno, we have wings, we have no choice but to extend them to keep on flying, again and again. Again and AGAIN.

"Chikara," Tanaka says, and this time he's looking at him. And again, Ennoshita knows what he is going to say because he feels the same way. "I like you."

He is not surprised when Ennoshita holds a calm yet reassuring smile on his face just as Ennoshita is not surprised once Tanaka copies his smiling gesture. Until then they had never mentioned it, but it hadn’t been necessary either because they are aware of the extra physical contact, which is no longer necessary at the time of being teammates, but occurs just because it’s wanted in the same way, it’s accepted by both parts. As at that time, that closeness is not necessary, their shoulders about to brush, their faces actually not so far from each other, but they don’t complain anyway, and if the distance grows between them, it’s because Tanaka moves away.

"I like you, and I feel like I'm breaking something because," Instead of speaking, Tanaka chooses to lift the edge of his pants, finally showing someone else the name tattooed on his skin; letters that don’t correspond to the boy sitting next to him but that Ennoshita brushes with his fingers anyway, making Tanaka form a line with his lips, "Because I really feel like I'm doing it. I know that both you and I have seen the way Hisashi and Kazuhito look at each other."

Ennoshita bites his lower lip. He looks at him before choosing to lift the edge of his t-shirt as well as lower the beginning of his pants to show him, like him, a name that although is not his, it’s totally familiar to him. Tanaka looks at the letters on his skin and then looks up to meet his gaze.

"I know that feeling," Ennoshita assures him.

Tanaka raises both eyebrows, surprised but not really that much.

"You don't like... just me, do you?" Ennoshita adds, without sounding angry.

"No, what about you?"

Ennoshita chooses to shake his head, agreeing with him.

They don’t know how, or perhaps they do know, since just as at that time they have sought to separate, they have had a whole year to create different moments with different people as well. Practices, lunches, sleepovers, chatting outside the door of Ukai’s store, talking about graduation and what they plan and want to do once their time as Karasuno students ends. They have had days, weeks, months, to spend their time knowing, discovering, getting confused because being interested in someone is not easy, much less when it comes to more than one person.

The two stop looking at each other when they hear someone clear their throat, and both rest their eyes on Nishinoya when he chooses to approach them to kneel in front of them, feeling his gaze between them, for his serene expression indicating that he has heard their conversation, or at least part of it. And the reality is, that neither Ennoshita nor Tanaka are upset about it.

Nishinoya lowers his gaze to his hands, and he’s careful, slow, not in a rush, or wanting to move as he usually does as he finally removes the tape from around his index finger. He turns his hand to show them the letters written on his skin, from his hand to the tip of his finger, and Ennoshita can assure that it’s the first time that he doesn’t have to rush to scold them because Nishinoya and Tanaka stay silent, still, looking at each other, but also looking at him while he looks at them both.

"All this time..." Tanaka begins to say, thinking about the time he himself had asked Nishinoya about the name on his skin, and the answer he had obtained.

Nishinoya smiles. It’s a sad gesture, but also joyful.

"But apparently, just like you, I don't want just one person," He says.

Ennoshita and Tanaka look at each other and then look at him again, but then they look over at him as Nishinoya turns his head because now Narita and Kinoshita have joined them, and they soon choose to sit together with them. They all look at each other, and Nishinoya decides to show them his finger again, so Tanaka smiles and lifts the edge of his pants just as Ennoshita shows them his own tattoo. Narita and Kinoshita look at each other, with both eyebrows raised, until the same type of smile appears on their faces because they also decide to be honest with them. Narita lifts the hem of his shirt to show his lower back while Kinoshita lowers the neck of his to show his back.

Love is weird.

It’s unique to each person, it’s pretty, confusing, and awful too.

Tanaka smiles because his best friends are the people he loves, just as Ennoshita bites his lower lip because although he has been chosen as the captain during his last year of school, he knows that he can trust his friends and that they will guide him when he is confused, a little lost because feelings imply a certain lack of control. The corners of Nishinoya's eyes crinkle from smiling so much because he is happy, because he believes that all their personalities fit perfectly, while Kinoshita continues to learn for himself that he must always look for opportunities to continue learning, and Narita knows that he doesn’t need to receive the attention of everyone around him as long as the people he cares about are interested in him.

They laugh, they laugh together because it’s true, love hurts sometimes, but many other times it’s happiness, unexpected endings that actually, are certainly expected. Because they have been teammates, and they will continue to be much more than that.

No one is in the middle of something because there is nothing to break, but to expand, create, transform, and for the same reason Kinoshita and Narita once again share a look with each other as well as Tanaka and Ennoshita, although soon all of them rest their attention on Nishinoya when he doesn’t hesitate to pounce on all of them, making everyone embrace, be connected, show that they love each other in the same way, that they are more than friends but that friendship is the basis of the love they have made bloom.

Yes, graduation is just around the corner and thus the end of their high school life, but for them; oh for them, everything has just begun, this is just the beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
